Take a bite out of water costs – restaurants and hotels

AUGUST 24, 2015 BY ANDY

This monthly tip comes from the www.EPA.gov/watersense website

With kitchens accounting for 14 percent of total water use in hotels, investing in water-efficient dishwashing, cooking equipment, and practices can help your hotel save water, energy, and operating costs.

Get cooking with water efficiency in your hotel’s commercial kitchens with these tips:

• Maintain equipment in standby mode when not in use to avoid wasting water. Equipment such as steam cookers have a timer to ensure that the device returns to standby mode after use.
• Scrape larger food items off of dishes into a compost or trash receptacle rather than using the garbage disposal, which runs water continuously.
• Replace existing pre-rinse spray valves with WaterSense labeled models, which are independently certified for water efficiency and performance. They can save a typical restaurant more than $100 in utility costs annually.
• Maximize dishwasher efficiency by running dishwashers only when full and operating the dishwasher at the lowest flow rate possible based on manufacturer recommendations.
• Serve water only upon requestand train restaurant staff to ask before refilling glasses.

You can learn more about how to increase water efficiency in your hotel’s commercial kitchens in WaterSense at Work: Best Management Practices for Commercial and Institutional Facilities.